


Railroad of Light and Dark.

by One_Real_Imonkey



Series: A thousand paths. [2]
Category: Star Wars - All Media Types
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Father-Son Relationship, Force Visions, Gen, Jedi Master Dooku, Movie: Star Wars: The Phantom Menace, No Beta We Die Like Clones, No Spoilers, Padawan Braids, Padawan Obi-Wan Kenobi, not in the tags
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-16
Updated: 2020-06-16
Packaged: 2021-03-03 19:14:15
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,843
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24760624
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/One_Real_Imonkey/pseuds/One_Real_Imonkey
Summary: Obi-Wan had visions, and he knows his way through each option. There are choices to make, and he will make them....Sequel to visions but can be read as a stand alone.
Relationships: Qui-Gon Jinn & Obi-Wan Kenobi
Series: A thousand paths. [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1789381
Comments: 4
Kudos: 189





	Railroad of Light and Dark.

**Author's Note:**

> This is a sequel to Visions, but can also be read as a one-shot.  
> I do not own, and I do hope you enjoy.

Obi-Wan often found himself comparing his visions and force-felt hunches to the old railroad systems on the lower levels. The train followed a specific path, but pushing a switch one way or the other would shift its course. The tracks led either to the light or the dark, and so it was his prerogative to try to lead the train into the light. Sometimes both tracks led to the light, but one lighter than others, or both to the dark, but one was more easily redeemable. 

For a long time, he’d only had visions at night, but as he’d aged, he’d begun to receive flashes and hunches while awake, with a sudden knowledge of whether the path ahead was light or dark. When he meditated, he could feel the light level around him, and see the paths ahead, laid out like a map with his choices ahead of him, leading into a thick fog obscuring the long-term path or consequences. 

He often wondered if there was someone on the other side of the switch, trying to move it in the opposite direction. He'd get to a choice and find himself in a darker position than he’d been in the vision before despite having moved into the light when he had chosen. Sometimes it would take three light choices to get back after a dark one. But, he reasoned, there were plenty of other people making these choices, whether they could see it or not, and it would be foolish to believe one Padawan was supposed to influence it all. 

Rather, he had reasoned. 

Before they’d reached the turning point. He'd known it was coming, known a big choice had lain ahead with very dark consequences, setting them onto a difficult path. 

When Captain Panaka had told them, they were low on fuel, he’d known that Tatooine held the potential for a very dark future, but that it was the lightest of the lot. Known intrinsically that this was where it started. This was where things changed. Honestly, he’d known it from the second the Council had sent them to negotiate Naboo’s freedom, but Tatooine was where it started. A vision that had otherwise failed to make sense coming into focus along with a powerful pull from the Force as the choice presented itself. 

Then they’d found Anakin, and the sith, and Obi-Wan had known there was someone else fighting for control of the train. Someone who wanted to send them deep into the darkness and crash the train off the tracks to make sure they couldn’t ever get it back on track. 

Worse, so many possible futures he’d thought to be years away were suddenly very imminent. 

He’d told himself he had a long way to go before he took a padawan because Anakin hadn’t even been enrolled in the Creches yet, but here he was, looking the same age he’d been in some of Obi-Wan's visions, and the timeline had moved up. 

And the sith, not darksiders, but sith. 

Anakin joined them on the way back to Coruscant and the Force felt strikingly darker. 

. 

. 

. 

There were days Obi-Wan cursed being able to feel the push and pull of the light so powerfully, both awake and in his dreams, because it was bouncing up and down like a Corellian Yo-yo. It was headache inducing. 

He was almost glad to be headed back to Naboo, away from the noise and choking concentration of the Force as it fluxed in the depth of Coruscant. 

Almost. 

But as much as the path to light lay ahead of him, so did the ever-looming path to darkness. Powerful crushing darkness. A darkness that had filled his dreams so frequently and thoroughly that his Master was actually concerned, not only for him but for the path ahead. And Qui-Gon Jinn never worried about the Forces path beyond the here and now. 

Obi-Wan quietly mused how much of Qui-Gon's belief in the prophecy at all was down to his own visions. For someone who focused on the Living Force and lived in the now, he was very concerned about little Ani and the path he’d take. 

Obi-Wan was also worried about Ani, but more so the depth of the choices he could feel around him. 

He needed the Jedi, and now he needed to convince the Jedi they needed him too, at least they needed him further away from the sith’s reach. Anakin’s path was tied to their own, and their actions were tied to his. It would be a balancing act to secure the future was light. 

But first, they needed to free Naboo and it’s people. He needed to focus. The choices would come, and he’d manage them as they did. 

. 

. 

. 

The Gungans were a stroke of genius, even if they seemed to annoy his Master. He enjoyed ribbing him through the bond. He also cracked a few jokes over Qui-Gon's shock as Padmé revealed herself to be the Queen. 

_“What was it you said, Master? The Queen does not need to know?”_

_“Very funny, Little one, but she was in_ _disguise_ _. All this proves is their system works. Naboo is famed for its cloak and dagger techniques.”_

_“_ _That's_ _a very_ _diplomatic_ _way to say you were fooled, Master.”_

_“You don’t sound all that_ _surprised at the reveal, I notice._ _”_

_“Oh, I knew, from not long after I met her. It was pretty obvious really.”_

_“Visions don’t count, Padawan mine. You cheated.”_

_“You’re just mad you didn’t work it out. The others_ _clearly_ _deferred_ _to her.”_

_“Focus on the negotiations, Obi-Wan.”_

_“Ha.”_

The agreement between Queen Amidala and Boss Nas was a huge relief for their plans. With someone to tackle the droids, they could focus on catching Gunray and ending the occupation once and for all. 

He almost laughed when Qui-Gon ordered Ani to stay in the cockpit of the fighter, if only because he was treated to a flash of outer space fighting and a victory cheer, but there were more pressing matters. He knew the Queen and her people needed to get out the way of the Sith, but it didn’t stay the dread. 

Letting her go alone could get her killed, and Qui-Gon threw out the option of going with her and leaving him at the mercy of the Sith, but Obi-Wan saw a flash of an image that had haunted his visions for years. 

From the creches when his master was faceless and his entire apprenticeship up to that exact moment. 

The blade entering Qui-Gon's chest, the sith smiling as Qui-Gon fell forwards into the Force’s embrace. 

If he left his Master alone, the man would die. 

That would be a dark path indeed. 

So, they battled. Two on one through the palace and into the depths of the generator rooms. They caught every blow they were dealt, but he realised pretty quickly the with was leading them somewhere, and worse, trying to split them apart. Different platforms, hells, if he hadn’t dodged a few kicks, different levels. 

There was darkness ahead, and as Obi-Wan blocked another strike, he realised this was a lose-lose situation. The path was set. He was too late. 

. 

. 

. 

Qui-Gon had felt the anxiety build in Obi-Wan all week, and he found it weighing on him. There was nothing he could do to remove his boy’s anxiety. It had grown and grown and leaked through the bond until they entered the hanger when suddenly, facing the sith, it had vanished, replaced with an almost weary resignation and a juxtaposing steely, determined desperation. 

He was proud of his Padawan, proud as he kept up in the fight, as he failed to be separated despite that clearly being the sith’s intention. 

And all at once, something in Obi-Wan changed. His fighting style, his stance in general. More precise, more planned. The strategy that had previously been merely stop the sith had changed. 

_“Want to let me in on the plan, Padawan?”_

_“He’s leading us to the generator, there are ray_ _shields_ _, I think he means to separate us. Do not run ahead. Do not let him get you alone.”_

_“I won’t Padawan,”_ he reassured , _“we can take him together.”_

He fell back slightly, allowing himself not to be pulled from Obi-Wan's side, even as the sith backed through the narrow corridor. The Zabrak snarled, evidently unhappy with their united front. 

The shield lifted and they surged forwards as one. 

The fight was quick, blocking and striking in fluid and non-ceasing movements. 

Obi-Wan was sent flying, but Qui-Gon couldn’t stop. Even with the flash of pain that shot through their bond. Obi-Wan was still alive and moving. He had to keep fighting. 

It had been difficult as two, but alone, it was taking all his years of skill and practice to stay alive. He wondered, absently, in the one corner of his mind not focused on the battle, if this was what Obi-Wan had sensed. If this was why Obi-Wan had chosen to come with him rather than the Queen. 

If this was where he died. 

If the Force willed it, perhaps there was nothing Obi-Wan could have done. Perhaps this was his end, like it or not. Everyone had one, and if he was supposed to die today, who were they to fight it? 

He didn’t let it distract him from his fight, or let him give up. He couldn't give up, not when there was a chance he could live and definitely not when Obi-Wan was still vulnerable on the floor. If he fell, the sith would kill his Padawan. If he fell, they would both die and he would have failed. 

And then a flash of blue cut across his vision, and the sith was dead, its body and head falling in different directions across the floor. 

There was a flood of relief. Obi-Wan was fine, he’d killed the sith, saved them both. The threat had passed. 

But Obi-Wan swayed, shuddered and took a step before falling forwards into him, and Qui-Gon was forced to the floor, shielding his padawan from the force of the fall. 

For a second, they lay there, Obi-Wan on top of him, head on his shoulder and eyes screwed shut in pain, before Qui-Gon processed what had happened. He repositioned them with both speed and care, sitting up so he could see the wound and comfort his padawan, who was lying with his head and upper body in Qui-Gon's lap. The wound would be superficial, painful but easy to heal, Obi-wan had been able to get up and fight, after all. 

No. 

Force, no. 

Please, Force, no. 

The gash across his front was harsh, deep and leaking blood where the cauterised skin had torn. 

He brushed the braid off of Obi-Wan's face and stroked his cheek, resting his chin on his padawan’s forehead and closing his eyes for a few seconds. 

“I’m sorry, Master.” 

“There’s nothing to be sorry for, little one. You stopped the sith, and once you heal, they’ll knight you. You have nothing to fear.” 

“Heal?” the word was a choked laugh or sob, or both, and Qui-Gon flinched, “Master, this is the end of my path. Do not lie to me. I know what lies ahead.” 

“It does not have to be, the healers...” 

“Can do nothing. This was the right path; the darkness is lifting. Protect the light. I had to stop the sith, he would have hurt so many. So many lights, put out by anger and fear. Lights that will not fade now. They will stay bright, Master.” 

“You... please don’t tell me you let this happen, dear one, that you knew... please...” 

“It was the only way; I saw so much darkness in the other paths. So much darkness. We lost, and the Jedi were cut down, crushed. It surrounded us, muted us, smothered us. It was so dark. So dark. So cold.” 

“No.” Qui-Gon began funnelling energy into the wound, to heal it, even if it was just enough to get him to bacta. He refused to lose another child to the darkness, “No, you will not give up. If there is darkness coming, we fight it together.” 

“Train Ani. He needs us to help him. Guide him in the light. He must be in the light. If he brings balance to the Force, there will nothing but death. Years of war and death. Whole planets gone. Entire species, ways of life, destroyed. Let the light thrive, let him thrive, please. Balance the Order, not the Force. Please master. Promise me.” 

“I will, and you’ll be there to help me. To tell me where I'm going wrong, please, Obi-Wan. You mean so much to me, I need you by my side. Anakin needs a brother. I need my son. I don’t know how to fight this alone.” 

But Qui-Gon could feel Obi-Wans energy fading. His healing was only prolonging his padawan’s fate. Giving him a false boost of energy, a bright demeaner covering a dying body. The only help it provided was to dull the pain. 

“Thank you, master. For everything you have done for me. The Force will guide you, and I... I’ll be there. In the light.” 

_“I love you, Master.”_

Obi-Wans hand reached to cup his cheek, and the boy smiled. 

Even as he seized and stilled, he smiled, looking the calmest Qui-Gon had ever seen him. 

Qui-Gon felt Obi-Wan join the Force. 

The bond snapped, echoing in the silence that filled his mind, a scream in the Force growing louder and louder, releasing outwards in a wave that screamed into every corner of the galaxy. He cradled his padawan, his son, in his arms and wept. 

Eyes unseeing, soul at peace, body still. 

Obi-Wan was gone. 

“I promise, little one, I promise. I will not let you down.” 

. 

. 

. 

The Council arrived faster than he’d expected, but apparently the Force’s scream and reached them in the Temple and shaken them into action. There was genuine sorrow on Yoda’s face, and Qui-Gon didn’t know if it was the loss of the youngest in his lineage or Obi-Wan's future path cut short or both that caused it. 

Anakin was huddled by his side, or by the Queens. The boy was adrift, and perhaps rightly so. 

Mace had been the one to greet him first. The first to apologise. The first to put a hand on his shoulder and Mace was the one to tell him Obi-Wan would be Knighted. 

Obi-Wan would be honoured. 

Dooku came to the funeral. It was a show of support he hadn’t expected, but he’d needed his master support. Braid clutched in his hand; he’d watched his child’s body burn. Without his master by his side, he wasn’t sure how he would have coped. 

Dooku had been angry, angry enough to have the Councils attention for a full day as he ranted about how unjust Obi-Wan's death had been. How wrong the council had been to send a single master-padawan pair against a sith. It had been a wakeup call for them, and Qui-Gon knew Dooku would be relentless. His Grandpadawan had been murdered and he was not taking it quietly. 

Dooku stayed with the Order, and re-joined the Council. 

He stayed, and forced change in the Jedi Order. 

Anakin grew. 

He spent a few years as an initiate in the creche, and then he became Qui-Gon's padawan, as promised. He was headstrong, brash and wild, but Qui-Gon was the maverick, and he wasn’t going to make the mistakes of his past. He refused to let Anakin fall like Xan, or be killed like Obi-Wan. 

Anakin mellowed and grew in the light. 

Feemor also joined him at the funeral. It was a blow to be faced with another apprentice he had failed, but there was comfort in reconciliation. And in meeting his grandpadawan for the first time, a spirited Tholothian girl called Badadi Adina. 

There was no war. There were no armies or invasions or battles to be foght. All skirmishes were settled. There were negotiations to aid all the planets who wanted to leave the Republic, new measures taken against slavery and corruption and the weight of the dark lifted. 

The sith revealed himself by accident. The Chancellor refusing to give up his power and leave, and then being revealed to have bribed so many of the Senators and he had even been found influencing the planets leaving. Lord Sidious was sold out by the people he paid to cover for him and even before they had irrefutable proof, the Senate was asking the Jedi to remove him in accordance with their vote of no confidence. He'd refused to leave. They'd been called. 

Anakin was by his side when he arrived at the Senate to face Sidious, along with Dooku, Mace, Kit, Feemor, Ahsoka and Badadi. Anakin was by his side as they destroyed the sith once and for all. 

The light prevailed. 

“I kept my promise, little one,” he thought. 

Years later, having lived a long and bright life, Qui-Gon joined the Force. 

Obi-Wan was waiting for him. 

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading. I hope you enjoyed.  
> There will be other stories in this series, but they won't necessarily follow from this story but rather Visions.  
> Please R+R.


End file.
